Nothing Left
by Awesomejoyce
Summary: "We were so excited because we both started winter break early. We met up at camp on Tuesday, figured we had three weeks together. It was going to be great. Then after the campfire, he—he kissed me good night, went back to his cabin, and in the morning, he was gone. We searched the whole camp. We contacted his mom. We've tried to reach him every way we know how. Nothing."
1. Winter Break

''I will be grading your paper on the organization, spelling, grammar, punctuation, and correct summarization,'' my teacher, Ms. Dawson, said. She was explaining a research project we were supposed to do during winter break, which was just a week away.

It was Friday, third-period Language Arts, and the kids at my boarding school were all bored out of their minds.

She continued, ''the presentation of your paper to the class will also be graded. Some possibilities for research topics are countries, animals, presidents, famous landmarks, historical events, culture, sports, diseases, famous architects, artists, scientists, or authors. Any questions?'' she asked.

Famous architects! My brain raced with the possibilities. Michelangelo, Mimar Sinan, Sir Christopher Wren, Louis Henri Sullivan, Le Corbusier, Antoni Gaudi, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Ieoh Ming Pei, Frank Gehry, Frank Lloyd Wright… there were hundreds more to choose from. All with amazing, unique designs and styles. I couldn't wait to get started.

The rest of the class groaned. They were all muttering about how unfair it was to have homework during a vacation. Truthfully, I didn't really understand why we did, either, but I sure wasn't complaining.

It was only October, but this year the school board had decided, for some reason, to move winter break to November instead of December. Everyone was anxious to get out of school so they could go visit their families for the holidays.

I went to a boarding school in New York, near Long Island, which was where Camp Half-Blood was. That way, I wouldn't have to travel through hundreds of miles of monster-infested land, which was pretty much everywhere, to get to camp when I needed to.

A girl named Lily Adkins raised her hand. ''Why?'' she asked. Everyone around her immediately chimed in with his or her opinion.

''Yeah, why?''

''I think this is against the law!''

''I don't have time for this! I'll be too busy stuffing my face with my grandma's famous apple pie!''

''I like pie!''

''I don't! I'm allergic!''

''I feel bad for you, man!''

''I don't! I never feel sympathy or empathy!''

''All right, class!'' Ms. Dawson clapped her hands to get our attention. ''That's enough.'' The class quieted some. ''This research project is an opportunity to learn more about a subject that interests you. You will develop skills that are applicable to school, work, and life. As for why you have to do it during break, well, winter break is a perfect time for this. You all don't have much to do, do you? You'll find more time in your schedule. And we don't want you all to come back forgetting everything you have learned so far this year. This project will be good practice for your researching and writing skills.''

_More_ time in our schedule? Yeah, right. I'd be spending my vacation at Camp Half-Blood, and I'd be extremely busy enjoying myself, reuniting with friends, and most importantly, getting to see Percy again.

Still, I knew I'd find enough time to do this project – that is, if nothing disastrous happened. I really hoped nothing would.

Ms. Dawson continued to explain more rules for the project, seeing that nobody had any good questions. She showed us some examples of past projects, but I wasn't listening anymore now that I'd already made some plans for my paper. I was ADHD, after all.

My mind drifted to camp again. I remembered winter break two years ago, when Percy, Thalia, and I had gone to Westover Hall to meet Grover and find two new demigods, Nico and Bianca di Angelo. How that manticore had hurdled off the cliff, with me still on its back. How Luke had totally betrayed me, forcing me to hold up the sky. I remembered Artemis, taking my load and placing it on her own shoulders to save me. How Percy, Thalia, and Grover had showed up at last with those hunters. And I remembered the final battle with Atlas on Mount Tam, Artemis fighting, Zoe dying, my dad coming to the rescue. I smiled. Good old dad.

I hoped that this winter break wouldn't be as overwhelming. But as a demigod, I seriously doubted it.

Suddenly the intercom came on. ''Attention. Attention, students, '' said the muffled voice of our principal, Mr. Thomas. ''It has begun snowing lightly outside. This may not seem like a big deal, but we have had reports of a huge snowstorm coming for the whole state, with up to eight feet of snow in some areas. This small flurry will rapidly become heavier. The weather forecast says that this one storm will last for only a day, but there will be scattered blizzards of the same kind for the next week or so. The board of education here has decided that school will be dismissed early today, and that winter break will also start early, right after dismissal. Students leaving for vacation are advised to leave now, while the snow is not too heavy. Students who are staying at school for the vacation may report to their dorms. All students' parents have been called and informed of this situation, and they will know to pick you up, so don't worry. Thank you, and have a good extended winter break.''

Cheering erupted throughout the whole school. YES! We got to have _three whole weeks_ of break now, instead of just two. I would get to spend almost a whole month at Camp Half-Blood. And since this blizzard was affecting the whole state, Percy would get to have a long break too, since he also lived in New York.

I couldn't wait to get to Camp Half-Blood. The camp had magical boundaries, so the snowstorm wouldn't have any effect on us. Everything would be great. We'd sing wintery campfire songs. We'd play capture the flag. We'd sing songs around the campfire. Percy and I would have _three whole weeks _together.

But… wait. _Calm down,_ I told myself. I had been so excited about the snow and getting to go on vacation early that I'd forgotten to consider why there might be such big snowstorms – and in October, too. So big that school would be canceled. As a daughter of the goddess of wisdom, my mind usually caught things like this right away.

It had to be that something was up with the gods. No question about that. Natural disasters, extreme weather – all these things that mortals have great scientific explanations for – are usually the gods' fault.

What was the problem now? Last summer, just two months before, actually, Percy and I had led an army to defeat Kronos, the evil Titan lord who was seeking revenge for his downfall millennia ago. The battle took place in Manhattan, and there were great losses on both sides. Finally, we had won. Peace had been restored. He definitely couldn't have risen again, definitely not this soon. It was something else. But what?

I walked out of the classroom with the mob of people who were crowding the halls. I forced myself to take my mind off what the weather might mean, just for a moment. _Chill. It's just snow, gods. No big deal. Think about camp. There's no use worrying._

''Hey, Annabeth!'' my friend Noelle said, catching up with me. ''I can't wait for Christmas!'' I walked over to her, smiled, and shrugged off what I was thinking about. After all, it might just be that the gods felt like making it a white Halloween – as strange as that sounded. But hey, you never knew.

Noelle loved holidays and anything that meant she didn't have to learn. Just like _somebody _I know. She was an orphan, and her aunt had brought her in after her parents had died, but then sent her off to boarding school because she was too busy with her job as a lawyer. I personally thought that was really selfish of her aunt, and her job was just an excuse to get rid of Noelle. I always got angry when I learned about these kind of things, as my stepmother used to not care about me like that.

But Noelle was a happy-go-lucky person. I don't know how that was, considering her family history. She was great at cheering people up and was always being friendly to everyone. But sometimes she's _too_ energetic.

''Hey!'' I said to her. ''So where are you going for break?''

''Oh, I'm visiting my aunt and uncle. They live in Idaho. They'll be picking me up in their car. A long car trip. You know how easily I get carsick. Yay me. Where are you going?''

''A camp,'' I said. ''I can't wait.''

We walked outside. The snow was falling in little cotton puffs, and most of the ground had been frosted with white already.

I had always loved how the school was designed. It was seven stories tall and built with silver bricks in perfect order. The main entrance was an arch-shaped doorway about twenty feet wide and ten feet tall. The doors were made out of glass. The windows were long and rectangular, with stained glass on either end. It was beautiful.

The architect who had designed it was a genius. In fact, I should ask the principal who had made this school. Whoever did would be a great topic for my research paper. I made a mental note to myself to go back to the school for that quick question to Mr. Thomas before my dad came to pick me up.

''A _camp_?In _winter_?'' Noelle asked.

''Camps are _not_ only for summer. And _I_ am also riding a car to get there. My dad's picking me up.''

''Sounds fun! Except for the car part, of course. Your dad is so awesome,'' Noelle said wistfully. Noelle doesn't mind when I talk about my dad. She likes it, really. She's always asking me to tell her about the stuff we do together, so she can 'experience what it's like being a real daughter'.

''Yeah, he's really cool. He's still obsessed those old sappy movies, though. He's been watching this rom-com, from the 1960's or something, and it makes him cry every time. It's hilarious.''

Noelle grinned. ''Sounds like your dad. See you after break,'' she said as she walked off toward an old Ford car driven by an older lady wearing a blue sweater, very red lipstick, dangly earrings, and a white silk scarf, with her gray hair done in a ponytail with a rubber band.

I had no idea why there were so many cars, and how they got here so fast, since the principal had just told them school would be out early like ten minutes ago.

''Bye!'' I watched Noelle and her aunt drive away, then I ran back into the school to ask Mr. Thomas about the school's architect.

There were still a lot of students going out of the doors, so when I tried to get back in, I was almost knocked over several times. When I finally made it through the mob and into the school, I ran to the principal's office.

Mr. Thomas was shuffling through some papers on his desk. When he heard me come in, he looked up.

''Annabeth, what may I help you with today?'' he asked.

''Well, I was wondering who designed this school. My Language Arts teacher assigned this project and I wanted to research an architect – '' I started.

''Yes, yes. The famous research project,'' Principal Thomas interrupted. ''I am pleased that you have such an interest in our school history and in your schoolwork. We don't have many students like you. You seem… different, somehow. In a good way, of course,'' he quickly added.

_If only you knew how different I really am,_ I thought drily.

''Anyways,'' he continued, ''what were you here for? Oh, yes, the school's architect. It was… Mirabelle Benson, I believe. Yes, her. Wonderful skill she has, doesn't she, now?''

Mirabelle Benson? I had never heard of any architect even like her before. Her name sounded more like a pop princess's than a talented creator. I knew Mr. Thomas wasn't joking, though. He never joked.

Oh well, all the more interesting for my project. Ms. Dawson would appreciate the uniqueness.

I asked the principal some more questions and he gave me some websites where I could research Mirabelle and her life. Afterwards I carefully put the papers in my folder and slung my backpack over my shoulder. I thanked Mr. Thomas and walked outside.

It had totally cleared out in front of the school. Where there had previously been a throng of students there now was only sidewalk and grass.

Yes, actual grass. I know, this is New York, but, being the amazing designer that she was, Mirabelle Benson had bordered the main building with 100 feet or so of green pasture.

Anyway, I was staring at the perfection of it all, when something weird happened. One moment everything was perfectly normal. The next, the ground seemed to tremble a bit – like an earthquake, except something was different. The world spun – and I'm not saying this figuratively. It was as if the earth itself were struggling to wake up from a deep sleep.

_I'm imagining things!_ I told myself.

The earth gave one final shake, which sent me tumbling to the ground – the ground, which seemed to be laughing at me.

I got up quickly and brushed myself off. _What in the name of the gods was that? _That certainly meant something. The earth… the way it shook…

_Forget about it. Now. _I told myself. But of course I wouldn't forget about it. My brain automatically started calculating all the possible reasons and meanings of this.

An earthquake… well, earthquakes were caused by Poseidon. He was the god of the sea, and also Percy's dad. Could it be that it was just him being moody?

But my brain said, _No. It's not him. That didn't feel like it was him. It felt stronger… agonizing… more ancient, older… angrier._

I didn't know how I knew those things. But somehow I could tell.

The earth… the earth itself seemed to be causing it, not a god's strike.

The earth…

Suddenly I heard a car horn honk loudly. It was my dad's Volkswagen.

Dad waved. ''Come on, Annabeth! Don't make me wait all day! This car has been rumbling and making hissing noises for hours! I don't want it to explode like the last one!''

I smiled, forgetting all about the earthquake (Well, not really. My brain just stored it away for now) and ran to the car. ''Hi, Dad. How did you get here so fast?''

My dad lived in San Francisco, and of course my school was in New York, but he was on a special business trip in New Jersey and had insisted on driving me to camp.

''Well, I am just this awesome,'' he said. ''So, I bet you're looking forward to camp.'' He seemed to have forgotten all about the car's apparent threat to explode.

''Yes,'' I said. ''It'll be the best.''

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**So there's the first chapter! Yay! I hope you like it! I'll try to update and post the next chapter as soon as possible, maybe 2 weeks or so? Likes and reviews are greatly appreciated! You have no idea how much I love those! Suggestions are also welcome! Thanks!  
**


	2. Ice Crystal Fight

We got to camp in about thirty minutes. All I thought about during the ride was seeing my friends again. My dad thought about a lot of other stuff.

We passed a parking lot full of school buses. There were dozens of them, maybe even hundreds, in neat little rows, all orderly and lined up.

''Interesting,'' my dad commented, ''how the school buses are all arranged that way. How did they get them into that formation? It must've taken days. And when it's time to use them again, they'd have to make that one at the far end go first, followed by that one, and that one….''

Another time we saw this old helicopter that I thought was pretty ordinary looking, but my dad didn't think so. ''I can't believe it!'' he'd gasped. ''A Westland Whirlwind! Impossible! Those are extremely rare! Built in the 1950s'! I thought they weren't used anymore! Why is it up there? This is amazing!'' And of course then he had to stop the car to get his phone out and take dozens of pictures from every single angle imaginable before it flew out of sight.

I didn't mind these delays that much, though. It was just what made my dad my dad. I couldn't imagine him being any other way.

After almost an hour later, we arrived at Camp Half-Blood.

When I saw the familiar gate, by Thalia's pine tree on Half-Blood Hill, I felt like I was coming home. Not that my boarding school and my dad's house weren't great, they were. It was just that when I was at camp, I was with other people like me. I felt like I was actually being useful.

''Well, I have to stop here,'' Dad said. We both knew how the camp's magical borders didn't allow regular mortals to pass through. ''I'll see you in three weeks, Annabeth. Stay safe.'' He knew how dangerous being a demigod was, and how easily a carefree vacation could turn into a risky mission.

''I'll try my best. Bye, Dad. See you soon.'' I got out and waved until the car was out of sight.

''Tell me if you spot any more Westland Whirlwinds!'' he shouted as he drove away.

I nodded, smiling, turned toward the entrance, and started walking, more excitement building up inside me with each step.

The first thing I thought when I got in was how unaffected the camp was from the weather. Not a bit of snow had fallen anywhere on the beautiful green fields. Walking in, I felt immediately warmer, like it was spring instead of winter. The lake wasn't frozen, and everything looked like it had in summer. I knew that all of this was because of the camp's magical borders that kept out mortal weather as well as monsters and regular mortals.

I looked around to see which campers were here. Most of the year-rounders, of course. Almost all of the other campers were here for break. There were the Stoll brothers, Clarisse, Chris, Katie, Miranda, Clovis, Will, Drew, Lacy, Harley, Malcolm, and even more by the cabins and at the arena. Unfortunately, Percy wasn't here yet.

I saw a familiar horse galloping over to the entrance.

''Chiron!'' I ran over to my teacher, who was in centaur form, and hugged him. Chiron was like a second father to me. All those years when I thought my dad hadn't cared about me, Chiron had helped me through.

''Annabeth. Welcome back,'' the centaur said warmly. ''How is the work on Mt. Olympus?''

I felt a surge of pride when he mentioned Mt. Olympus. Last summer I'd gotten the incredible honor of getting to redesign the home of the gods after it got wrecked in the Titan War. It was a dream come true. I had so many great plans going for the rebuilding. Right now I was working on the bowling alley.

''It's going great!'' I exclaimed. ''I'm planning to make the bowling alley - ''

''Hey, Annabeth,'' a familiar voice behind me smirked, making me jump. ''More architecture plans?''

I spun around, and Percy grabbed me in a hug. It was just like him to sneak up on me like that. Percy. Oh gods.

But now he was here. We were together.

''Yes, more architecture plans, Seaweed Brain,'' I said, lightly pushing him away. ''Not like _you_ would understand any of it.

''No arguing with that,'' he said, grinning.

I took his hand. ''Come on, let's go see what everyone else is up to.''

Even though we didn't live too far away from each other, I hadn't seen Percy for weeks. We'd both been pretty busy – not just with our schoolwork. There were some warnings about a new threat to the gods coming soon, and we were trying to figure out what it was all about. There were signs, like – like –

_Like that earthquake at school!_ How could I have forgotten about something so important? _Stupid,_ I told myself.

I tried not to, but I couldn't stop growing frantic. Who wouldn't?

Couldn't the world of gods and monsters just leave us demigods alone for a few months? We deserved it, no doubt about that. But somehow, we always ended up getting tangled in the gods' problems.

That ancient feeling the earth gave… it was like nothing I'd ever felt before…

Percy must have sensed that something was wrong. He stopped walking. ''What is it?'' he asked.

''Nothing!'' I automatically said. I _really_ didn't need to ruin his break with these crazy thoughts of mine.

''Yeah, right.''

''It's nothing! But if you really have to know – and I'm guessing you do, being the Seaweed Brain that you are – I have this feeling that something is wrong on Olympus…''

''How come?''

''Earthquake…'' I muttered.

''Earthquake?''

I rolled my eyes. ''Don't you know that that could _mean?_''

''Um… no, actually, I don't,'' he admitted sheepishly, in a way that was both cute and annoying at the same time.

Well, Seaweed Brain not knowing obvious stuff certainly wasn't new.

''You know what, it doesn't really matter. It's not like we can do something about it. We don't even what it is,'' I said. Worrying people about this was definitely not going to help.

''I guess,'' he agreed. ''Although, if you really can sense something is wrong, you should probably talk to Chiron about it.''

How had I not thought of that before?

Percy must have seen my surprise because he smirked. ''How does it feel like being the clueless one?''

''Not so great,'' I admitted. ''Definitely not an everyday occurrence. So don't go thinking you're all high and mighty now."

We laughed, and I decided to forget about my worries for real this time. After all, what did I have to worry about when Seaweed Brain was by my side?

We walked, hand in hand, around the whole camp, to see what all the others were up to.

It turned out that everyone was in a festive mood, even the Ares kids, who showed it by not guarding the entrances and greeting campers by stuffing their faces with snow from outside the camp's borders, like they usually did.

Speaking of the Ares kids, their counselor, Clarisse La Rue, was waiting for us with a huge smirk on her face.

Clarisse used to be one of my least favorite people – but all that changed during the years, as I got to know her and her own struggles better. She really wasn't a bad person. She was just an Ares kid – it was in her nature to act all tough and warlike. Clarisse was one of the camp's greatest heroes. Last summer, she had single-handedly slayed a drakon to avenge her friend Silena's death.

"Looks like the two lovebirds are having fun," she snickered. "Well, not for long they aren't! Come on, guys!" she yelled at the other Ares kids, who, as though they'd been practicing this, immediately started packing snow from outside the borders in their hands. In less than three seconds, about a hundred perfectly shaped, huge snowballs were sailing right into our faces. So much for being in a festive mood.

Now, as a demigod, I usually had pretty fast reflexes. It was part of the ADHD we have – your instincts keep you alive in battle. But this time, I wasn't expecting any danger. I was at camp!

It looked like Percy was under the same conditions. Which meant that a hundred or so snowballs, moving faster than Zeus could shoot lightning bolts, exploded straight in our faces.

You really don't know what that feels like.

After all of the hundred snowballs had collided into us, knocking us over wildly, and coating us in cold frost, the Ares kids started to launch another volley.

I got up quickly, and pulled Percy up with me.

I started making snowballs as fast as I could, and so did he, but – two snowmen against fifteen Ares kids wasn't really an easy win. Well, for us, it wasn't. Clarisse's group won quite easily.

As they started to get the _third_ storm ready, I decided I'd just stay out of their path. If I didn't even stand up, Clarisse couldn't reach me, right?

Wrong. They just aimed it at where we were on the ground. And yes, it _was_ possible to become more soaked.

This was getting ridiculous. Why were we having this one-sided snowball fight with Clarisse and her friends in the first place? Oh yeah, because they're children of Ares. Ugh.

Of course, they were already starting to prepare the fourth round.

But this time, I had an idea.

I stood up, grabbed Percy, and quickly brushed the snow off of him.

"Ow!" he complained. "Do you _have_ to brush so hard?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yes. And I think know how we can beat Clarisse. Look, Seaweed Brain, snow is made out of water, right? And you can control water. So, turn their snowballs into water, then shoot the water right in their faces."

"Can I do that? Melt the snow? Wait, how does water even become snow in the first place?"

He didn't know that? Wow. "That's a very simple question," I said enthusiastically. "See, snow is created when water vapor—water in its gas state—is cooled so much that it turns into solid ice crystals. Going directly from a gas to a solid is call _deposition_. The molecular characteristics of water causes its solid state to be in regular crystals. The size and shape of these ice crystals is determined by the amount of water and the temperature at which snow is formed. Deposition – "

"Look out!" Percy interrupted as he pulled me out of the path of the Ares kids' fourth bombard of snowballs.

"Thanks," I said. "Now, do you want to learn more about the deposition process or not? Because – "

"Not!" he said quickly. "Thanks for explaining. Now I understand how – wait, what were you talking about again? The positions or something?"

I whacked him lightly on the shoulder. "Just go and do it," I said.

He nodded eagerly, like he was glad he wasn't learning about ice crystals and deposition anymore, and stared at the Ares kids in concentration. They had their fifth batch in their hands, positioned to throw.

I waited.

Clarisse and her friends hurled the snowballs.

Just as the solid ice crystals were flying, halfway to us, they suddenly froze in midair. The snow slowly turned into slush – but the slush didn't drop onto the ground. It hung, mid-flight, in the air.

In a few seconds, the slush turned to complete water, still in the air, and still frozen.

Percy concentrated.

All of a sudden the water unfroze, and began zooming backwards in Clarisse's direction. The speed they traveled at was about as fast as Zeus could throw thunderbolts.

The Ares kids could only stare in surprise as a swift, powerful, jet of water doused them with such force that they were knocked over, falling very deep into the snow. The water seemed to go out of its way to soak Clarisse and every single one of her friends.

They started shrieking and trying to get out of the two-foot deep ditches that they had created. Clarisse managed to claw her way out first. She glared at us with fierceness. "I'll get you for this, punks."

Clarisse and her siblings stormed away angrily into the camp, making a point to shake all of the water covering themselves onto Percy and me. They looked like wet dogs after an unwilling bath. I tried not to laugh.

"Great job!" I congratulated Percy. I high-fived him, but didn't let go of his hand afterwards.

He seemed pretty pleased with himself, and just wouldn't stop grinning.

Oh, great, now he's going to be all supercilious.

I told him so, and he just stared at me blankly, like he had no idea what I was talking about. I realized that was probably the case, because I'm pretty sure that the word, 'supercilious' wasn't in his simple vocabulary. _Seaweed Brain,_ I thought.

But for some reason, I couldn't stop grinning either.

I hadn't noticed that the evening had come. The snowball fight had taken longer than I thought. It was time for dinner.

When we got to the dining hall, some angry Ares campers welcomed us.

"I'd beat you guys up now, but I don't want to do the dishes," said Cassie, a girl with short, frizzy, brown hair and flashing brown eyes. "But just wait until Capture the Flag. We'll get you good then."

I had almost forgotten that it was Friday and, therefore, a Capture the Flag night. "We'll see about that," I told Cassie, and I walked briskly away. I wondered what the teams would be this time. Most likely, though, the Athena and Ares cabins would be opposing each other. I needed to start thinking about plans…

I sat down at the table with my half-siblings. My plate was filled with plump purple grapes, cheese, bread, and the camp's special barbecue meat. I magically filled my drinking cup with hot chocolate. It reminded me of movie night with my dad.

I walked over to the bonfire, in the center of the pavilion. I scraped a portion of my food into the fire and prayed to all the gods, but especially my mother, Athena, that winter break would be awesome and that my school report would be, too.

I didn't feel any response, though. I don't think there was even a special godly fragrance that the burnt food turned into, like it always did. The gods had been there for us in _some_ way all these years, even if it was really discreet. Why would now be different? This was one of the worries that we'd had about something being wrong… as if Mount Olympus's very doors had been closed, shutting off all communication. But that couldn't be… right? They wouldn't have any reason to do that.

I was interrupted from my distant thoughts by a tap on my shoulder. I turned around.

It was a woman that I'd never seen before. She seemed to be in her mid-thirties. She had long, dark hair that framed her friendly face. She wore large plastic glasses over her gray eyes. She didn't seem to be a mortal…

"Who are you?" I asked.

The woman smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Annabeth. You're quite famous, you know. I'm Mirabelle Benson, daughter of Athena."

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**Finally, Chapter 2 is here! I said I would update in a week or two, and it has been exactly two weeks! I kept true to my word! I think that I'll make two weeks the official update time now. So you can expect the third chapter on or around May 28th. Please review! I've gotten some follows/favorites but no reviews! I need your feedback! Thank you! Hope you enjoy this chapter! :)**

**-Awesomejoyce**


	3. Meeting Mirabelle

"You're… Mirabelle Benson?" I asked, amazed. "The one who designed my school? And you're a demigod! A child of Athena! "

"Yes, I am," Mirabelle replied. "And _you_ are the great Annabeth Chase. You've helped the gods greatly in both the Titan War and the events leading to it. You have faced difficult challenges with courage, strength, and wisdom, even when you were scared. You make me, and all other children of Athena, proud. You are a true hero."

Gods, this was so cool. Mirabelle Benson thought I was a hero. Pride started tingling through me. Maybe she was right. If I were so courageous, strong, and wise, maybe I could stop whatever problem seemed to be looming with the gods. The Olympians' enemies could be defeated once and for all, demigods could live in peace, and it would be a perfect world… I shook my head to clear it. I was getting _really _carried away.

"Thank you," I said to Mirabelle, "I love your designs on the school. They're so unique and beautiful."

Mirabelle laughed. "That's nothing compared to you. I've heard how you are renovating Mount Olympus. The honor can't get any higher than that. And at such a young age, too. "

"Thank you," I said again, flattered. "So… have you always been interested in architecture, too?"

"Not really," she admitted. "I've only developed an interest in it about three years ago, when I was fifteen. That was when my family completely fell apart – I won't bother you with the details. Well, I found that studying buildings took my mind off of my problems – there was a new library being built next to my house at the time, and I'd always stare out my window at it at night. Day by day, I watched new parts being added to it until finally it was done. I went inside, read some books, and was amazed by how beautiful it all was. And I realized how long that library would last – if people took care of it properly, of course. And I wanted to make things last. Unlike my family."

I was shocked, by a _lot_ of things. First, she became interested in designing because of the same purpose as I – building something that would last. That made me appreciative. And the family problems, of course… But something else that was surprising was that she was fifteen three years ago – which meant that she was eighteen now. Yet, I had thought she was in her mid-thirties when I'd first seen her. Why would she look so much older than she was?

I glanced at her face again indistinctly. I tried not to appear rude as I looked her over… she still appeared as if she were thirty.

Mirabelle noticed my confused look. She laughed. "Oh, I forgot." She waved her hand, and suddenly she looked her age – eighteen. Her face became rounder, more childish, no creases. Her hair became darker and richer brown. She looked strong and full of fresh energy.

"How…?" I asked.

"The Mist," she replied. "I can appear however old I want to look."

"But even demigods can't bend the Mist for other demigods," I said.

Mirabelle nodded. "That's true. However, the goddess of youth, Hebe, granted me the ability to be able to change my appearance, age-wise only, of course, after I helped tricking Geras – Hebe's opposite, the spirit of old age, and basically her arch-enemy – into thinking that the local nursing home was a bowling alley with a 'seniors bowl free' policy."

Mirabelle picked up a plate, got some food, and cast a generous part of it into the fire. Like with my offering, there was no pleasant aroma that the food dissolved into. The gods weren't responding.

"Gods, that's cool. Why did you want to look middle-aged just then?" I asked.

"I'm an architect," she explained, "Most people wouldn't hire an eighteen-year old for designing their building, would they? Well, maybe with a lot of complications and questioning, but I really don't want to have to go through all that."

"Five minutes left for dinner!" Chiron called out loud to all the campers. "Then we will play Capture the Flag."

I hadn't even sat down at my table yet, I had been so busy talking. I told Mirabelle to come sit at the Athena table. I picked up my fork and started eating the barbecue. Yum.

"So," she continued, after buttering some bread, "That's my typical appearance in the mortal world. But here at camp, it feels great to look my real age."

"Do you come to camp often?" I had so many questions that I probably sounded like Pandora.

"Whenever I have time," Mirabelle responded brightly. "I'm just an extra counselor – not a cabin counselor, of course, just someone who helps around with anything that needs to be done."

"Wow. Hey, are you going to play in the game of Capture the Flag tonight? It'd be great if you did," I told her.

"Definitely. Capture the Flag has always been one of my favorite things here at camp." Mirabelle replied, just as Chiron clapped his hands for our attention.

"Dinner is over! Tonight for Capture the Flag, these are the teams that you have chosen: On the red team; Ares as the team leader, along with Aphrodite, Hephaestus, and Hermes," he announced as the plates were cleared away.

Athena and Ares wouldn't be on the same team. We'd show those Ares kids who ruled. They had Aphrodite, Hephaestus, and Hermes. Well, the Aphrodite campers probably wouldn't be much use. They'd be too worried about chipping a nail or messing up their hair to be serious fighters.

The Hephaestus and Hermes kids might be a problem, though. Those Hephaestus kids were strong, and could build pretty much any kind of device you could imagine. And the Hermes kids were fast and definitely tricky.

The Ares kids had probably tempted them all with bribes of shower times, activity slots, and chore schedules.

"And the blue team," Chiron continued, "Will have Athena as the leader, along with Poseidon, Demeter, Apollo, and Dionysus."

I was really glad that Percy would be on my team. It was always nice to have him at my back during Capture the Flag – during anything, actually.

We'd also have the Demeter kids. People didn't usually see them as a threat, but they could be pretty powerful sometimes, with their growing powers. They could create all kinds of traps with plants and weeds, maybe trip a few people.

The Apollo kids were very skilled archers, of course. They'd be able to attack and defend long-distance. That was good.

The Dionysus kids… well; they would be useful in _some_ way.

There were five cabins on the blue team and only four on the red, but it all balanced out because the red team had the Hermes cabin, which was always overcrowded, and the blue team had some cabins, like Poseidon and Dionysus, that only had a few campers.

Everyone got up from their tables and started grouping together, talking about plans.

I cleared my plate and ran over to the cluster of blue team members gathered at the left of the pavilion. I saw that my half-brother, Malcolm, who was also my second-in-command, was raising up the familiar silvery gray Athena banner. On the other side, where the opposing team was gathering, Clarisse held up the meretricious red Ares banner.

The teams started walking farther away from each other, creating a distance in-between, so the opposing team wouldn't overhear the plans.

"So, what's the course of action this time?" asked Roslyn, a Demeter kid who had flowery decorations all over her, after everyone had gathered. Everyone looked at me expectantly.

_No!_ I wanted to punch myself. I'd been so busy talking to Mirabelle during dinner that I hadn't given one thought about a game plan. And I definitely could not lose this game, not after what I'd said to Cassie, not when everyone's expecting so much out of me. It would be mortifyingly humiliating.

I _hated_ disappointing people. One of the things I absolutely detested was when people had high expectations for me that I didn't live up to. Whenever that happened, I felt like a total failure.

"Um…" I hesitated. "Well…"

Everyone stared at me in anticipation.

I racked my brain for any possible spur-of-the-moment ideas. I couldn't think of any, which really lowered my morale. What was wrong with me?

Percy saved me. "I have an idea!" he announced, a little uncertainly.

Our teammates' stares swiveled to him.

"How about, uh, we separate into some groups. One group can keep some of the red team members busy at the right of the forest. Another group can be of archers – you Apollo guys, um… go to the left and defend, long-distance. A third group can go capture the flag, a fourth group can have two guards for the flag, and the last group can defend our flag right in the middle, you might have to do more than fight to hold them off _there_… I'm guessing the red team will send the majority of their team members there… we'll have to make a plan or something… Annabeth, can you and another group do that?"

"Sure," I said. I looked at him gratefully.

The members of the blue team started murmuring amongst themselves.

An Apollo kid named Kendall raised his hand as if he were in class.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"That's _all_? No extremely brilliant twist or anything that we're famous for? I mean, _you're_ famous for?" he asked, a little crestfallen.

I wasn't so sure how to reply to that. I didn't like disappointing him – he was one of the younger campers, about ten years old – but the plan wasn't bad at all, even though it wasn't the kind we usually had.

Another Apollo kid, Valerie, spoke up. She was two years older than Kendall and always acted like his big sister, which she sort of was. "Kendall, be quiet! This plan is wonderful! Besides, we'll win for sure if the Athena kids strategize how to protect our flag from the middle. And don't you want to defend our flag, too? You might get to use your bow and arrows!"

Kendall's face lighted up. "Yeah! That would be cool!" He started talking excitedly to some of his half-siblings. I silently thanked Valerie.

We started organizing the groups. The Apollo kids, of course, would be the archers at the left. The Athena kids like me, and a few other campers, would guard in the middle of the forest. The rest would go to the right to keep them occupied, except a small group containing Percy, Malcolm, and Roslyn that would go after the Ares flag, and our two guards – Kendall and Valerie.

Now I just had to think of that plan for my group. We wouldn't be able to take the red team just by fighting them off here. With Malcolm going after the flag, we only had about seven or so Athena campers.

No doubt the red team would send a large group to the middle, to attack head-on. That was usually Ares's way – straightforward. Which meant we'd be outnumbered. If we were fighting one-on-one, the remaining red team members would capture the flag while we were occupied.

So we had one less team member than usual, with Malcolm doing something else… wait, Mirabelle Benson! She'd be Malcolm's replacement. That still wouldn't be enough people, though…

A little idea came to me. Mirabelle Benson. She could change her appearance to look any age. That would be beneficial to us, since I was pretty sure no one but me knew about her ability. We could use that to trick our opponents somehow.

I started intently brainstorming what we could do. Then a simple plan arose from my mind.

"Mirabelle," I said, "Can you turn into an old lady? Seventy or eighty years old?"

"Of course," she replied. "I'm guessing that this is part of your plan?"

"Yeah," I said. "This isn't the best plan I've ever come up with, but let's hope it works."

Wynter, one of my half-sisters, demanded, "Well, what is it?"

"So – Ares kids are easily provoked," I started, regaining all my old confidence, "Everyone knows that. The plan is for Mirabelle – as an old lady – to taunt the Ares kids until they attack her. Mirabelle will not actually get hurt, of course, but she'll have to _look_ as if they'd hurt her – by growing, maybe, 20 years older. After she does that she'll pretend to collapse. Then the Dionysus kids can come out of the trees – where they'd have been hiding all this time – and act shocked and scared. They'll tell the Ares kids that they think the old lady was Demeter in the form of an old lady," I explained.

"Dionysus kids?" Wynter asked doubtfully, and one of them, Fred, scowled.

"Their dad – Mr. D – " I started, and everyone cringed at the name. "Anyway," I continued, "He's the god of theater, drama, and acting, you all know that. That's why the Dionysus kids might be helpful, they could act and make it seem believable," I finished.

Everyone nodded slightly. Fred and his siblings seemed cheered up that they played such a big part.

"And the rest of the plan," I said, "The Dionysus kids will say things that will, hopefully, make the Ares kids back against the trees. That will give the hiding Demeter kids the chance to tie them to the trees with vines."

The Demeter kids looked happy that they would get to do that.

"What about us?" Wynter asked. "What will the Athena kids do?"

"There's not really much we need to do. We can just stay undercover in the trees and bushes, and be prepared in case something goes wrong."

"Yeah, Wynter," the Dionysus kid, Fred, gloated, "It's _our_ turn tobe the important ones." Wynter scowled.

I gave the Dionysus kids the details on what they should say specifically while acting to make this work.

Soon both teams were ready. Chiron called for our attention. "Attention, campers! We all know the rules. The creek is the border between the two teams. Magic items of all kinds are permitted. All of the woods may be used. The banner has to be shown clearly and only two guards are allowed. You may only disarm your prisoners, no bounding or gagging. Killing or maiming results in losing your dessert privileges. I will be the referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"

With a spread of his hands, the tables became loaded with weapons, armor, and shields. We all strapped on our armor and picked out some equipment.

Battle shouts were made, and the game began.

Our team marched down to the south woods, as the red team paraded towards the north.

"Good idea, tying the Ares kids to trees," Percy said as we were marching.

"I know," I replied. I smiled. "If this works, they'll be _really_ mad."

"We'll have to watch out for more snowballs," Percy commented.

"Or toilet water," I added, remembering his first meeting with Clarisse.

"Or getting dumped into the canoe lake," he remarked. I grinned.

Once we got there, we split up into the groups we'd arranged. I led Mirabelle right to the middle of our territory. She immediately changed into an old lady. Her back was hunched over, her hair was silvery white, and her skin was wrinkly.

"Being old doesn't feel so good," she complained.

I led the Dionysus kids – there were four of them – into the trees near Mirabelle, about thirty yards in front of our guards. They would jump out and start talking as soon as Mirabelle pretended to fall over.

The Demeter kids were also well hidden in a clump of trees. My siblings and I took cover besides them to watch, and to jump out in case something went wrong.

We all waited for the red team members to come.

* * *

**There's the third chapter, on May 28th, just like I'd promised! Yay! Thanks so much to all of you readers, you guys are awesome! And a special thanks to all the people who favorited/followed this story, and pjoperson and Cuddly Owl, who were the first and only people so far to review! REVIEWS, FOLLOWS, AND FAVORITES ARE VERY APPRECIATED! Hope you liked this chapter! Like I said before, updates will (hopefully) be made every two weeks, which means that the next will most likely be on June 11th. June 11th also happens to be my birthday! :D**

**-Awesomejoyce**


	4. Camp Evening

Mirabelle put some flowers in her hair, a part of her disguise.

Within a few minutes, the loud, heavy footsteps of the Ares kids could be heard. When they saw Mirabelle, they looked confused.

"Who is that old lady? What's she doing here?" Clarisse asked, frowning.

Mirabelle shot around to face them. "Old lady? How dare you be so disrespectful! It is common courtesy to bow down to your elders."

Another Ares kid, Marcela, smirked. "Get out of our way, grandma. Don't you know we have important business to do?"

"Your impudence will not be tolerated. Apologize at once," Mirabelle ordered.

"In your dreams," Cassie replied. "Now get out of our way, old hag."

"I have had enough!" Mirabelle exclaimed. "You girls are pathetic excuses for demigods! I am ashamed of you."

"What did you call us?" Clarisse asked, her voice dangerous.

"Pathetic excuses for demigods!" Mirabelle repeated. "With horrible hearing too, I might add."

"That's it!" an Ares kid named Mackenzie yelled, and she charged towards Mirabelle. Our plan was in action.

"Nobody messes with us and gets away with it!" Cassie shouted, grabbing her spear and throwing it at Mirabelle.

If you didn't look carefully, you could never have been able to tell that Mirabelle slightly dodged the weapon at the last moment. She pretended to wince in pain. "Rethink what you're doing, girls," she exclaimed, as she shifted her arm so you couldn't see that it wasn't hurt.

Mackenzie ignored her and jabbed her sword into Mirabelle's side, too busy sneering to see that she dodged slightly again.

After a few more attacks, Mirabelle pretended to collapse, growing older as she did, turning more wrinkly and ruined. The Ares kids high-fived each other in congratulations. Suddenly, the Dionysus kids jumped out of the bushes. "Save yourself!" Fred screamed like a maniac. His siblings started running around in terror.

Clarisse rolled her eyes. She motioned for her team members to run for the flag. Some Dionysus kids blocked their path.

Before they could get stampeded, one of them raised his hands up. "I just want to warn you about something! That old lady you just got rid of – I think – I think that it was a goddess in disguise! Demeter!"

"Yeah, right," an Ares kid named Aaron said in exasperation. "Now get out of our way."

"No, really," Fred insisted, "Just think. It all makes sense. Who else would it have been if it weren't a goddess? I know it wasn't a camper, counselor, or director here. I've never seen anyone like them before… have you guys? It couldn't be a regular mortal; we all know that they can't enter the camp. An old lady is a famous disguise of Demeter's. She used it when she was searching for her daughter Persephone."

A few of the younger Ares kids started looking scared. A nine-year-old, Elise, started crying. "It's all your fault, Clarisse and Mackenzie and Cassie!" she wailed.

Fred nodded in sympathy. "And also – the old lady was wearing flowers in her hair – I saw. Everyone knows Demeter grows things like flowers. And why else would she have warned you about being rude so much if she weren't a goddess?" Fred shivered. "I'm glad I'm not you guys. You're in big trouble. You didn't kill her, of course, since goddesses are immortal, but you probably made her really angry… who knows what she'd do to you? Turn you into a flower, a tree, some grain…"

Now almost everyone looked a little shaken. "Well, is there anything we can do to apologize?" Elise asked.

Fred acted as if he were thinking hard. Then he said, "Well… there might be – and I'm saying, might be – one thing you could do. Place a sacrifice for Demeter on the branch of a tree – and pray to her that you'll be forgiven." Fred said this with such feeling that you couldn't help but believe him, even if the idea were a little unbelievable.

"All right, fine," Clarisse growled, "But we're not all going to waste our time on this. Only the ones who actually hurt the old lady will stay here and do the offering, everyone else, go after the flag! We don't have any time to waste."

Uh-oh. I hadn't planned on this happening. I bit my lip and hoped that without their strongest fighters, the Ares kids wouldn't be able to do that much. But we couldn't be sure, so I motioned for my half-siblings to follow me to defend our flag when they came. Looked like we'd have something to do after all. I hoped that the tying-them-to-the-tree plan would work, at least.

I led the Athena kids as fast as I could to a cluster of oak trees where the Ares kids would be sure to pass on their way to the flag. While I waited, I tried to listen to what was going on with the Dionysus cabin. Everything seemed to be fine, they were going to the tree, and – no!Someone else from the red team was coming. Who was it?

"What are you doing there with that tree, Clarisse?" the voice of Connor Stoll, a Hermes kid, asked. They told him about the old lady and what the Dionysus kids said about the offering. Connor laughed. "You're falling for that, dude? It's obviously a lie. And I should know what's a lie."

Oh, great. Now the plan was definitely going to fail. Hermes was the god of liars, so of course his kids would be able to tell what was true and what wasn't.

Clarisse seemed to realize that, too. "Those punks," she muttered. I heard her, Cassie, and Mackenzie sprinting towards us, towards the flag.

"Here it comes," my half-siblings mumbled to one another. The only way we could win was if our group going after the flag was victorious, and we hadn't heard from them yet. I decided I'd go check on them. Total change of plans.

"I'm going to go check on our flag-capturing group," I told Ariel, "Do you think you guys can handle them yourselves?"

Ariel, one of my siblings who was about the same age as me, snorted. "What do you think? We _have_ won battles without you, you know. Go."

I took my invisibility cap out of my pocket, plunked it on my head, and ran off, trying to be as quiet as I could. I hurried through the forest until I heard voices. I scanned the forest and saw someone catch Roslyn.

"You're our prisoner now," Nyssa, a Hephaestus kid, announced to Roslyn. She led her away to the red team's jail.

So one of them was captured. What about Percy and Malcolm, though?

I crept closer and answered my own question. They were battling with some Ares kids that had been left behind, along with a few Hermes and Hephaestus kids. The Aphrodite cabin was watching the fight from a distance, under the orders of their new head counselor, Drew – definitely not my favorite person in the world.

Anyway, there were about four red team members against them – which meant two on one, not the most even match. I didn't get why everyone seemed to want to use weapons in this game, but they were heavily armed. It looked like they'd intercepted from about twelve yards in front of the flag.

There was no question about what to do now. While the majority of the red team either near our flag or fighting Percy and Malcolm, it was a great chance for me to sneak around invisibly and get the flag. I started to run farther ahead, when suddenly an Ares kid stabbed Malcolm in the foot with a sword. Malcolm stumbled over right into Percy and accidentally knocked him down. Both of them tried to get up. An Ares kid pushed them down, holding his sword in front of them.

I couldn't believe that anyone would be this mean in a game of Capture the Flag. Sure, everyone was competitive once in a while, but brutally using weapons in a friendly competition was not cool. They _were _Ares kids, but they were also campers and heroes. Shouldn't they know better?

Seeing Percy and my half-brother being treated like this in a game made me stop for a moment. I couldn't help but yank the Ares kid by the arm, hard, and smash him into a tall oak tree. Everyone stood stunned as I let go of the Ares kid and raced off, still invisible, towards the flag.

As I got closer, I could see that the one guard was a Hephaestus kid named Christopher. He didn't seem to be guarding very carefully. He appeared bored, fiddling with some tools and small machine parts.

I was just about to grab the flag when some hands snatched it from its post. Percy. He'd escaped the Ares kids while they were surprised. I saw Malcolm behind him, ready to fight off any attackers until they got back to the blue team territory. Looked like I didn't need to get the flag after all.

I followed them invisibly, until they were almost to the creek, the boundary line. That was when suddenly a swarm of red team members appeared out of nowhere – again – snatching the flag away. Malcolm tried to grab it back, but another Ares kid drew his dagger and struck. He managed to dodge it, and unsheathed his own sword.

Percy tried to grab the flag back. While he and the Ares kid were busy wrestling with each other, I grabbed it and took off, running to the creek.

Unfortunately, I was running so fast that my baseball cap flew off, making me visible. "Hey!" someone shouted from the red team, "She's getting away with our flag!" I ignored the yells and sounds of feet running after me.

When I was about five feet from the boundary line, I saw Clarisse race towards the line from the opposite side – with the blue team's flag.

I put forward a burst of speed that sent me partway across the creek – and smack into Clarisse, knocking both of us down hard. Both banners flew out of our hands.

We both tried to get up and grab the banners, but not before our team members from both sides caught up to us, all jumping into the creek, and fumbling for their opponents' flag. It was total chaos. And nobody could be taken prisoner, since we were _in _the creek, the boundary line. Wow.

Percy reached for my hand and helped me up, handing me my fallen cap, which was pretty sweet. He didn't seem to be hurt from the fights with the Ares kids, just covered with dirt and grass.

"Campers!" Chiron called, "Some order, please. This is quite the strange situation we have here. I'm afraid that we will have to settle on a tie, for we have no more time, and it is chaos here. Report back to the campfire when you have tidied up."

Everyone groaned. You'd think that people would be happy not to lose. Well, people also get disappointed when they don't win. My plan had totally failed. It was disorganized. The whole game was disorganized and random. I should've thought of something better. But we'd all tried our best, and, that was enough. Usually. Right? Well, maybe for a game. But if we were really battling an enemy, and nobody won, would that be enough? It all depended on the situation, and the opponent. How much was enough, though? That also depended on the situation. If –

"What are you thinking about?" Percy interrupted my mental discussion with myself.

"I'm contemplating how the locality and opponent alter the outcome of a dispute," I replied, matter-of-fact, using big words on purpose.

"Can you say that in English?" he asked.

"You're hopeless," I proclaimed.

"Hey, not everyone is a Wise Girl," he complained.

"You're right. It's really too bad that some people are Seaweed Brains."

"Those people need Wise Girls in their life to help them, then."

The campers made their way back to their cabins, still muttering about the tie with their friends.

I got to my cabin, and started dusting off the dirt and wiping off the mud from the river. I saw Mirabelle, who was back to her teen form, listening to my half-sister, who was furious about not winning (it's not that big of a deal! At least we didn't lose!). "Annabeth tried her best, and that was enough for tonight," Mirabelle was saying. I was thankful that she was on my side, but that just started up my mental conversation with myself again.

After we got cleaned up, the Athena cabin stuck together as they ran to the campfire. Chiron stood in the middle as he always did whenever he led speeches/discussions/arguments/wild shouting. I sat down next to Percy and attempted to smooth his hair down, which he'd forgotten to do after Capture the Flag. It did not obey, and stubbornly sprang back to its wild, tangled form. Percy grinned.

"Good evening, campers!" Chiron announced. Everyone stopped talking and turned towards him. "I hope you all enjoyed your first day of your break back at camp. I'm glad that things are all settled down now, and we can relax and just have fun," he said, although his eyes were troubled, as if he'd been thinking about the possible problems with the gods.

Cheering erupted among all the campers, who seemed unaware of his hidden troubles, and the flames in the campfire rose higher and brighter, showing the mood. "Now we can begin our sing-along!"

The Apollo guys were already there, and starting up on of their famous sing-alongs. They began a corny, classic camp song, as people started settling down around the fire. More and more people joined in the chorus of cheerful voices, and so did I. It was so nice to just forget about all your worries, and let the beat of the music carry you away to a land free of worry. Yeah, I know, I sound very cheesy. But that was the whole point.

The first song faded away, and the musicians started up the second. It was calmer, more like a lullaby.

_The shadows of this world are here; ready to attack._

_But friends are always there to have your back._

_A light in the storm seems far away,_

_The stars in the sky seem to sway,_

_But a candle in the darkness is coming your way._

_You are here in this safety to stay, stay._

_Everything will be okay._

I don't know why, but that campfire song was pretty touching to me. I felt myself relax for real now, believing the lyrics, which might be a little stupid, but I didn't care. I leaned over and rested my head on Percy's shoulder. He wrapped his arm around me. It felt so good – melting into his warmth, sitting in safety with all of my friends, at my true home, where I belonged, with the background music soothingly saying everything would be fine. I had never felt so warm inside.

* * *

**Awesome! Amazing! Miraculous! I managed to update this right on time! Today is June 11th, and it is my birthday! I had such an awesome day. And my friends remembered! Yay! Now, I hope you liked this chapter! I know that Capture the Flag was really random. And I know that the song isn't the best (I am not a songwriter and I wrote that song in 5 minutes, so, yeah...). Sorry about that! The next chapter will probably be posted around June 25th, 2 weeks from now! That's my summer break, so luckily, I can work on it more. Please take the time to review, suggestions and feedback are always welcome! Thank you! Happy birthday to me! P.) :D P.) :D  
**

**-Awesomejoyce**


	5. Gone

We listened and sang along to a few more songs, with that cozy feeling still inside me. After a while, things started wrapping up. Campers started heading back to their cabins, calling out to each other good night, some still mumbling about the tie, others excitedly discussing plans for tomorrow. Of course, Percy and I walked together.

"Did you see the look on Clarisse's face when Chiron said that it was going to be a tie?" he asked.

"Yeah," I replied, trying not to laugh at the memory. "So, what do you want to do tomorrow?"

"I don't know," he replied. Typical answer.

"How about you help me come up with ideas for my English paper?" I teased.

"Sure, I could help you get an F," he offered.

Suddenly Grover trotted over to us. "Hi," he greeted, "Do you mind if I join you guys?"

"No problem," Percy replied without hesitating. The satyr was his best friend, and a good friend of mine too. The three of us had worked together on our first quest to rescue Zeus's lightning bolt.

"Where were you all day?" I asked. "We haven't seen you once since we got here."

"Oh," Grover replied nervously, "I thought that you guys might want to be alone. I've been busy listening to all the other satyrs' reports on finding demigods."

Grover was the Lord of the Wild, the chosen one of Pan, and the leader of the Council of Cloven Elders, which basically meant that all the other satyrs had to listen to him and report back on whatever they find, whether it was a new demigod or a threat to the gods. Everyone preferred it to be a new demigod. Grover was pretty good at his job, and the satyrs respected him a lot.

"There's this one satyr," he started to explain, "His name is Gleeson Hedge, and – "

"Gleeson? What kind of a name is that?" Percy wondered, laughing. I couldn't help laughing too, until Grover's expression told us that this was serious. I quieted down and nudged Percy to do the same.

"Anyway," Grover continued, ignoring the laughter, "He's pretending to be a coach at a school for bad kids, kids who committed crimes of some sort. He told me through an Iris-message that he's already sensed and located two half-bloods, a boy and a girl, but here's the strange thing: they're older than thirteen. Gleeson reported that they both were about fifteen years old."

That _was_ strange. Last summer, after the second Titan War, Percy had asked for one of his gifts from the gods to be that satyrs took demigods to Camp Half-Blood no later than the age of thirteen, because that was usually when monsters started noticing their scent more. Why were these two different? Was it possible that the gods were ignoring us to this extremity? That couldn't be. I'm way too dramatic.

Grover took in our surprised expressions and nodded. "I know, it's confusing. Gleeson also told me that the two half-bloods he was keeping an eye on seemed more powerful than most. Maybe they have special powers. Who knows? He can tell that there's a monster in disguise in the group of kids in the school, too. And as if that weren't enough, I can sense that there's more coming. The two demigods aren't complete, someone else is arriving soon, I think. We're waiting for that before Gleeson takes them to camp together." He shrugged in confusion. "I don't know why I know this… but…"

Grover looked tired and weighed down with all his responsibilities. You'd think that the gods would give us a break after what happened last summer, but no. There's always new problems.

"You'll figure this out, man. Look on the bright side. It could turn out to be a good thing. What's so bad about two or three powerful new demigods on our side?" Percy suggested.

"Yeah, Goat Boy, it's winter break. Cheer up! These half-bloods could be really helpful to us, once they're brought to camp," I added.

"Maybe," Grover replied. He paused. "Am I annoying you guys? Tell me if I'm annoying you guys."

"Oh, you're always annoying us," I teased.

Grover smiled. "I'll go now, then, since I'm so annoying," he said, and headed over to Chiron.

"Do you think something bad is going to happen?" I asked after he left.

"Don't know."

"Why do you think the gods have started ignoring us? Have you heard from your dad recently?" I asked, knowing the answer. Grover's information about Gleeson's situation had filled me up with questions again. I was curious.

"I don't know," he said again, to the first question. "And I haven't heard from Poseidon, not since summer," he confirmed. "But that's normal, isn't it? Some gods talk to their kids only once, or maybe even never, in a lifetime. It doesn't have to mean anything."

"That's true. But the doors of Olympus seemed to have closed, in a lot of ways," I pointed out, "It has to mean something, something really weird."

"At least they're still claiming their kids. That shows that they haven't forgotten about us completely," he referred.

"But what about those fifteen-year-olds Grover mentioned? What if that means that the gods start forgetting about their kids again?" I asked uneasily.

"They won't," he said, "The gods might be a little forgetful and sometimes a little crazy – "

We both looked up to see if a lightning bolt would be hurled down at him for daring to say that. No lightning bolt.

" – but they wouldn't stop claiming their kids. Look at the Hermes cabin. It's not half as full as it used to be. And they haven't stopped claiming new demigods since summer, even since their silence."

"That actually make sense," I observed.

We had reached our cabins now. It was getting late, and I knew that a good night's sleep was what everyone needed.

"Bye, Annabeth. Good night," Percy said. He leaned in and kissed me. I felt warm all over, like I always felt when he did that. I also felt giddy, but I _definitely _couldn't let him know that.

I straightened and squeezed his hand. "See you tomorrow, Seaweed Brain." I watched him walk off to his cabin, admiring how confident and strong he looked. It was hard to believe that just a few years ago he was a scrawny, clueless (well, he still is clueless) boy who drooled in his sleep.

I ran into my cabin. All the other Athena kids were already there. "Where were_ you_?" asked my half-sister Stacy.

"Outside, where else?" I answered. I climbed onto my bunk and started getting ready to sleep. It had been a long day.

The other Athena kids, though, didn't seem tired at all. They were all in their bunks, but nobody was sleeping. Everyone seemed to have something to say to one of their half-siblings or another. "Outside with Percy, of course," Stacy commented to me.

"You two are inseparable!" Wynter, who was sitting on the bunk next to me, added. "Gods, I don't think that even Zeus himself could pull you guys apart!"

I knew that she was teasing me, but it was nice to think of it that way. Inseparable.

That night, I had dreams. Not just one, but several. They were all confusing, all jumbled up.

I was trudging along in the snow. I had lost something, _something important._ I couldn't find it. I searched everywhere. Nothing. A rumbling noise shook the earth, a woman's soft and ghastly voice laughed without humor, and a bank of snow collapsed in on me.

The dream faded. I was now in a dark cave. All alone. I heard the distant, familiar roar of monsters. I tried to reach out and grab for something: my knife, a friend, a magic item, anything, but no. There was nothing left. The ground trembled as the monster – was it a giant? – closed in on me. It brought its fist down, and everything dissolved.

Now I was at a scene of destruction. The place, wherever it was, was so wrecked that I couldn't even tell what it used to be. Trees had been smashed into the earth, buildings had collapsed into massive piles of wood, and it looked like a wasteland. I heard distant laughter, the laugh from the first dream. I tried to run, but there was nowhere to go.

I woke suddenly with a jolt and a sense that something was wrong. Sunlight was pouring in from the windows, and almost everyone was already up. What did my dreams mean? Demigod dreams almost always had layers of meanings. _I'll worry about that later,_ I told myself.

When I got to the dining hall for breakfast, I looked around for Percy like I always did. Strangely, I didn't see him, even though he usually wasn't late. I wanted to wait for him to come before I ate breakfast, but finally I decided that he had probably just slept in.

After breakfast, it was cabin inspection. The Athena cabin was perfectly organized, of course. Since I didn't have anything other to do, I went over to the Poseidon cabin to see if Percy needed any help. I expected that he would.

The familiar Poseidon cabin was welcoming. I knocked once on the door. "I'm here to help you not get a score of 1 on cabin inspection," I called loudly.

There was no answer. He was probably still sleeping. Maybe he still drooled. I opened the door.

I couldn't see him. I walked farther into the cabin, feeling a little creeped out by the empty feeling inside it. "Percy?" I asked, "Are you in here?" It was a stupid question. He obviously wasn't. I checked the whole cabin, every single corner that he could be hiding in, but the place was empty.

_He's probably gone outside while I was in my cabin, _I thought. I ran out of the Poseidon cabin. Chiron was standing on the porch of the loud Hermes cabin, overseeing the cabin inspection.

"You guys get a 1," announced Will Solace, the Apollo cabin counselor who was doing the inspection.

"What? Dude, that's not fair at all! We cleaned up!" protested Travis, motioning towards the cabin. Clothes, soda cans, magical weapons, and Mytho Magic cards had been quickly thrown under the bunks, a classic solution. A few missed pieces of popcorn and cheese puffs were scattered across the floor. Suddenly, the closet groaned and collapsed, showering down dirty socks and rumpled clothes, along with some stolen merchandise from the camp store.

"So that's where the twenty packs of Oreos that mysteriously disappeared from the store went," Chiron said drily, looking at the pile on the floor. The Hermes kids exchanged sheepish glances with each other.

"We didn't – " Connor started.

"Chiron!" I interrupted. "Where's Percy?"

Chiron turned towards me. "I was wondering the same thing. I haven't seen him since last night." The old centaur's brow creased with worry.

"He wasn't at breakfast. I've checked his cabin," I told him, panic starting to rise up inside me, "He wasn't there."

"We shouldn't become too concerned," Chiron decided. "He could have just decided to wander off somewhere. That boy is unpredictable. Why don't you go and check around the camp? Ask a few people to help."

I nodded and walked off, leaving the Hermes cabin (where a trash fight had suddenly erupted) behind.

I walked all over the camp. I checked all the places he loved to be, and even the places where I was sure he wouldn't be. I asked a few people at each place if Percy had been there this morning. The answer was always no. I asked them to alert me if he came over later on. No one reported back to me saying that he was found.

Before long, word had spread around the camp that he was missing, and everyone joined in looking. No one saw him. Up until this point, I had thought that he was just hiding or something. Now, I realized that he was really gone. Waves of hopelessness swept over me.

Every single camper said that they hadn't seen him since yesterday. "There's still a chance that he hasn't totally vanished," pointed out Lacy, an Aphrodite camper. "Call his mom. Maybe he had to go back home for an emergency or something."

I'd been so worried that hadn't thought of that. It was the obvious thing to do. I thanked Lacy and dialed Sally Jackson's number on my phone. Demigods weren't supposed to have phones, because technology attracted monsters, but I didn't care about that right now. Chiron saw me and nodded his consent. He was as anxious as I was.

"Hi, Sally? It's Annabeth," I said when she picked up. You might think it was strange that I called her by her first name, but Ms. Jackson had insisted that I call her Sally when Percy and I had first started dating.

"Annabeth! It's so nice to hear from you," Sally replied. I could hear the surprise in her voice. She knew as well as a demigod that technology wasn't good for us. "Is anything wrong? Is Percy okay?"

"Well…" I started, "That's what I was calling you about." My heart sank deep down. If she was asking about Percy, he obviously wasn't at her apartment. I decided to tell her about what happened, anyway. She was his mom, and deserved to know.

"We can't find him," I told her, feeling my voice shake.

"_What?"_ Sally asked in disbelief. She was used to her son disappearing on dangerous missions that started out as a happy trip, but this was winter vacation. Kronos had been defeated last summer.

"I know, it's…" My voice trailed off. "He's just gone. No one's seen him since last night. We've searched all over the camp, and we're sure that he's not here. I'm sorry." I felt like I couldn't say the words _he's gone _or anything like that anymore or I'd go crazy. "I have to go now, this call's probably attracting monsters."

"Tell me if you find out anything," Sally demanded.

"I will," I answered. I turned off my phone and walked back to Chiron. "He's not at his mom's house."

"Is there anything else we could try?" Chiron asked.

"Well," I began. I thought for a moment. "Maybe we could try to send an Iris-message. Or… Grover could try to use his empathy link." Those were my last hopes. One of them _had_ to work.

"Those are good ideas," Chiron said. "Let's see if they work."

I made myself think that they would. I remembered what Wynter had said the night before: _You two are inseparable. _But deep inside, another voice was arguing, saying the words I hated most: _He's gone. He's gone._

* * *

**And there's the fifth chapter! It's a miracle, as always, that I got it done on time. SUMMER VACATION AT LAST! :D :D :D I have way more time now. Even so, I was kind of in a hurry, and I just got over a huge case of writer's block, so sorry if my story is random or anything. P.) There will be at least one more chapter! It'll probably be posted two weeks from now, as some people may know. That means around July 9th. Please try to review! Thanks! Yay! :) **

**-Awesomejoyce**


	6. More Craziness

"Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering," I said as I tossed a coin into a fountain in the camp. "Show me Percy Jackson." I waited anxiously for a response, any response.

Nothing happened. It was as if someone were blocking me off.

The other campers, who had been watching and waiting anxiously, looked absolutely crestfallen. Most of them knew Percy personally. Many of them were his friends, who'd fought beside him at one time or another.

"This doesn't have to mean anything," I said, trying to sound confident. I knew, though, that my voice was desperate, as if I were saying, 'this _can't_ mean anything'.

"Where's Grover?" I asked anxiously.

"Checking the camp again," one of the Apollo kids called.

Just then, Grover emerged from behind some lilac bushes. He looked very discouraged. "I looked all over, again. He's not here. I couldn't even smell him at all." As a satyr, Grover could smell demigods, monsters, and mortals.

"Try your empathy link," I ordered. "Try to see where he is. Try to talk to him."

Grover concentrated, and after a few moments he shook his head in despair. "It's no use. I can't feel anything at all. It's as if someone were interfering, cutting off the link entirely." That was exactly what the Iris-message had felt like.

The empathy link had been our last resort. The tiny bit of hope that had been left in me vanished instantly. He was really gone. Maybe he was lost somewhere; maybe he was hurt and needed help. _Why?_

Did the gods have to do with it? Most likely, yes. They had to do with _everything_ in our lives. Why couldn't they leave us alone? When I found out who caused this, I would never forgive them.

I stomped the ground. "No! This _can't _be!" I shouted.

Normally I would never lose control of myself in front of all the campers like this, but I didn't care now.

Chiron put his hand on my shoulder. "Annabeth – " he started.

"No! Leave me alone!" I shouted like a five-year-old, and took off, away from the crowd. Tears were streaming down my face, but they were tears of bitter anger. No one tried to follow me.

My dreams had tried to warn me. I had been alone in all of them. I had tried to find something that was missing, something very important. That was Percy.

I found myself at the edge of the camp, at the shore. Waves crashed onto the sand. It was winter, so the whole beach was completely deserted. Which was how I felt.

The sea, of course, with its peaceful sound and salty smell reminded me all the more of who I was missing. Memories swam in my head, of us taking long walks together here in the evening, of us jumping waves together, of sitting together on the shore watching the fireworks.

I dipped a hand into the cold, foamy water and let it wash over me. It calmed me a little. I realized that there had been so many signs of this coming trouble. Things that were unusual, not right, things that had led up to this.

The earth shaking back at school. The gods shutting off communication, and all their other forms of ignorance towards us. My dreams of being alone. Even the occasional uneasiness – I'd read somewhere in a demigod book that sometimes you could be especially empathetic towards close friends, to the extent of being able to feel not only what they were experiencing at the moment, but what was about to come.

There was no use in stressing myself out over what had happened in the past, I realized. The present was more important. But what would I do now?

I would find him. I would search all over, as long as it took. Sitting around wouldn't help anything, I scolded myself. With one last glance at the water, I prayed to Percy's dad, Poseidon, lord of the sea, to help us find his son.

I jumped up and headed back to camp. I needed to organize searching parties. If we all worked together and looked everywhere, we would find him. There was no other possible outcome.

Right now, though, like in my dreams, there was nothing left.

Word got out pretty quickly. Soon all sorts of groups started arriving at the camp, offering to help search.

Tyson and Mrs. O'Leary. Nico di Angelo. Even the Hunters of Artemis came, and they all set off later in different directions, determined to find him. I arranged everything, and tried to act calm to reassure everyone else.

The days following his disappearance seemed to be both hazy and achingly real at the same time.

I'd set off, sometimes alone, sometimes with other campers, all over the city, the state, even some other states. We searched nonstop in both mortal places and magical places, without any luck at all.

The gods continued to ignore us, and I felt like my anger towards them would burst. They take a camper away and then turn their back on us, not caring enough to give any explanation. What had we ever done to offend them?

I had tried to take my mind off it by writing my report for school, which was a very weird thing to do, but it worked a little. I included how hard any person's life could be, no matter what their job. And that an architect's life wasn't easy._ In more ways than one_, I thought as I remembered how Mirabelle had also had a complicated past.

One night, after another day of unsuccessful searching, I headed back to my cabin and flopped onto my bunk. It seemed like nothing would work. Winter break was ruined for the whole camp, nobody could be happy after this disaster. I prayed for better luck tomorrow.

Almost instantly after I closed my eyes, a dream grabbed me. Even before I knew what was happening, I could sense it was powerful, which meant only one thing – it was sent by the gods.

At first there was nothing, only a swirling mist of darkness. Then, a goddess's face appeared out of it – one that I knew all too well.

"Hera." So many questions were spinning inside me, but plain anger overtook all other emotions.

Hera and I weren't really the best of friends. She was the goddess of family – but she only liked perfect families. An example of that would be how she threw her son, Hephaestus, off Mount Olympus when he was a baby, because she thought that he was too ugly. Great mom, right?

She and I also had a rocky history. A few years ago she'd decided that she was my enemy, and since then, had constantly tormented me in many ways, including sending cows – one of her sacred animals – after me.

After the Titan War last summer, I had thought that she was grateful to the demigods for helping, and that maybe she and I could make peace at last.

But now, after a month of no communication from the gods, Hera, my least favorite goddess, sends me a dream. Something was definitely up. And I had a feeling it had to do with Percy's disappearance. Did she take him? It would be just like her to do that.

"What did you – " I started, but Hera cut me off.

"We don't have much time, which means I talk, and you listen," the goddess of family commanded.

"No!" I shouted. "You can't just show up out of nowhere and suddenly decide to – "

"Quiet!" Hera ordered. "I know that you're wondering why I'm here. Well, maybe if you'd let me talk, you'll find out the answers to some questions you need to know."

I started to protest again, then decided to see what she had to say for herself first, and shut my mouth.

"Much better," Hera said approvingly. "Now, I can't explain everything. But I can tell you this – I will help you to find Percy."

"Help me find – wait, so you did have something to do with him disappearing! What did you do with him?" I asked angrily.

Hera smiled. "Calm down, calm down. He's going to be fine – at least, I'm pretty sure."

"Fine? Why did you take him in the first place?" I demanded. I tried my hardest to not slap that smile right off her face.

Suddenly, Hera tensed, as if sensing something dangerous. "As I said before, time is running out," she said, all business. "This is all you need to know, and it's very important – go to the Grand Canyon skywalk tomorrow, and look for a boy with one shoe." With that, her voice and image faded away, and despite all my shouting and questions, there was no reply.

Bright light streamed through the windows as I opened my eyes. I knew that, as crazy as Hera was, she wouldn't lie when saying that going to the Grand Canyon was important. I needed to get there as soon as possible, and find the answer to what happened to Percy.

"Chiron!" I said, as I ran up to him at breakfast. "I got a dream from Hera last night. It was strange, but she told me to go to the Grand Canyon and look for a guy with one shoe. She said that it would help me find Percy."

Chiron looked surprised, but he made no comment of why Hera had sent me a message, someone who she didn't like at all, after a month of no communication from the gods. "Then we must send a group at once to the Grand Canyon," he decided. "What will you use for travel?"

"The pegasi will get us there the quickest," I told him. "I'll take Butch, he's good with controlling them." Butch, whose mom was Iris, goddess of the rainbow, was a pro with handling the independent pegasi.

Chiron nodded. He must've seen the hope on my face. "We all wish you luck," he said.

Soon Butch and I were driving a chariot pulled by pegasi to the Grand Canyon. If we had used normal mortal transportation, it would have taken us much longer, but on the flying horses, we arrived in no time.

I ordered Butch to land on the edge of the skywalk, which I hoped wouldn't break under the weight of the chariot.

I jumped out as fast as I could, grabbing my knife in case I needed it. I frantically scanned the crowd of kids for Percy. I didn't see him anywhere, and I almost exploded with rage. What was Hera trying to do now? Trick us into… into what?

I forced myself to calm down. He might still be here, hiding somewhere or whatever. As I looked closer, I realized that three people were grouped together not far from us. I was no satyr, but I could tell that they were demigods.

I remembered Grover telling us about three half bloods at a school for 'bad kids', who were fifteen and still not claimed. These were three kids now, and they looked to be about fifteen. Grover had said that their satyr was Gleeson Hedge. These must be the half bloods he was talking about. But I didn't see a satyr anywhere. All this rushed through my mind while I continued to look for Percy.

Finally, I addressed the three demigods. "Where is he?" I demanded. They should know where Percy was. Hera had told me that the answer was here.

One of them, a boy with blond hair and blue eyes, asked, confused, "Where's who?"

I frowned and bit back a sharp remark. I couldn't expect these demigods to know everything. They most likely didn't even know that they were demigods yet. Now that they were here, I might as well pick them up and bring them back to camp, after I found the answer to Percy's disappearance. But where was their satyr?

I turned to the other two half bloods, and asked, "What about Gleeson? Where is your protector, Gleeson Hedge?" They had to know _that._

They did. One of the other demigods, a crazy-looking boy with dark, curly hair, cleared his throat and said, "He got taken by some… tornado things."

Tornado things? I would've laughed if the situation hadn't been so serious. He had to mean storm spirits.

"_Venti_," the first boy corrected his friend. "Storm spirits." He was right, but how did he know this, if he hadn't been claimed? And _venti _was Latin, not Greek.

"You mean _anemoi thuellai_?" I asked. "That's the Greek term. Who are you, and what happened?"

He started telling the events that had taken place earlier, which included a field trip, storm spirits in disguise, and a fall off the Grand Canyon. All through the story, though, I didn't see how it could possibly have anything to do with Percy. Finally he finished, and he hadn't answered any of my questions. Hera had _promised_ an explanation. Well, who could trust Hera said? "No, no, no! She told me he would be here. She told me if I came here, I'd find the answer!" I said in frustration.

I hadn't even noticed that Butch had come to stand next to me, but he said, urgently, "Annabeth, check it out." He pointed to the feet of boy who had told the story. I glanced down, and caught my breath as I saw that he had only one shoe. _Look for a boy with one shoe_, Hera had told me.

"The guy with one shoe," Butch repeated my thoughts. "He's the answer."

That unclaimed demigod _couldn't _be the answer. Hera had deceived me somehow. Why would _he _be here, and not Percy? "No, Butch, he can't be. I was tricked." How could Hera do this to me? I glared at the sky, at Hera, high on Mount Olympus. "What do you want from me?" I shouted up at her. "What have you done with him?"

A shudder shook the skywalk, and the horses whinnied.

"Annabeth, we've got to leave," Butch insisted. "Let's get these three to camp and figure it out there. Those storm spirits might come back."

We'd come to the Grand Canyon as Hera had instructed, but found only three new demigods. "Fine. We'll settle this later." I glared at the guy with one shoe. _Percy should've been here, not him_, I thought, as I stormed back to the chariot.

I had to calm down. I should never have expected much from Hera, anyway. Nothing made sense, which meant that the gods were definitely behind this. I realized that we would never find Percy if the gods didn't want us to. We would have to wait and hope for the best, and I hated that.

Even though it felt like there was nothing left in my life, I knew that was wrong. The camp needed me, and as unlikely as it seemed, those three new demigods had to be part of the craziness that was happening right now. Even though it seemed impossible, they _were_ the answer. Hera had told me that, and although I completely distrusted her, I knew deep inside that they were important. I just had to figure out how. We _could _figure out what it all meant if we tried hard enough.

* * *

**And that's the last chapter! :) Every single one of you who read this story is AMAZING! You guys are the reason that I write. I can't believe that I got this many views! I know that my writing is confusing at times, and I really apologize for that. Sometimes it's hard for me to write. For example, I typed 7 pages today while trying to get my Thomas-the-tank-engine obsessed little brother off the computer. :) SO THANK YOU FOR STICKING THROUGH WITH ME! I finished a story! YAY! LET'S CELEBRATE! :D :D :D P.D P.D P.D THANK YOU ALL AGAIN! YOU GUYS ARE ALL SO AWESOME! :D  
**


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